GRANDY.  “Their creed is an odd mixture.  They believe in two beings, equal in power; the one doing good, the other evil; and they pray to the demon to allow them to remain unmolested by the magicians, who are constantly endeavoring to injure them.”

MR. STANLEY.  “In Dahomey the tiger is an object of religious regard; but the people wisely deem it the safest mode of worship to perform their acts of devotion to his skin only, and it is stuffed for that purpose.  The government of this country is entirely despotic.  The sovereign may cut off as many heads as he likes, and dispose of his subjects’ property as he thinks fit, without being accountable to any earthly tribunal.  He has from three to four thousand wives, a proportion of whom, trained to arms under female officers, constitute his body-guard.”

CHARLES.  “What a royal regiment! all queens; why the sight of them would strike terror into an English army.  I should throw down my weapons directly.”

MR. STANLEY.  “But their enemies are not so gallant, and hesitate not to fight this female army, who very often gain the advantage by being so well disciplined.”

MR. BARRAUD.  “In Dahomey, at a particular period of the year, a grand annual festival is held; and, amidst feastings and rejoicings, deeds are done from which the civilized mind recoils with horror.  Numbers of human victims are sacrificed in solemn form.

“They are generally prisoners of war set aside for the purpose; but as seventy is the required number, should there not be so many prisoners, the king makes it up from his own subjects.  Their bodies are thrown to wild beasts, while their heads are used to decorate the walls of the royal palace!  Still more barbarous is the notion of enjoying the gratification of trampling on the heads of their enemies; and, in order to do this, the King of Dahomey has the passage leading to his bedchamber paved with the skulls of his enemies!”

EMMA.  “O cruel murderous people!  Sail on, Charles, and leave them far behind.  Is not the next coast Ashantee?”

CHARLES.  “Yes; Ashantee is at present the most powerful state in all Western Africa, and, in fact, rules over a considerable portion of it.  The natives are remarkable for oratory, and will discourse fluently on a given subject for hours.  A taste for music is also extensively cultivated, and their taste is evidenced by the native band at Cape Coast Castle, which plays admirably by ear several of the most popular English tunes.  The Ashantees, and the natives of the countries contiguous to this coast, build their houses of mud and sticks, which composition they call ‘swish.’”